Rienzi is very early Wagner and is a long way from his best. That is not knocking it as such because the characters are interesting(especially Rienzi and Adriano) and the music, especially the Overture, the Battle Hymn and Rienzi's Prayer is beautiful, but the opera can be static and it is also one of Wagner's longest and at times feels it. Its DVD competition is scarce, in fact there's only 2, neither of which do the opera complete justice. The 2010 Berlin production was an example of a performance better heard than seen, musically it was outstanding but visually it was rather ugly, heavy-handed and distasteful with Rienzi's role grossly distorted. While there are a lot of problems this 2012 production is the superior one.
It's a better performance visually than Berlin's, the sets are minimalistic and lacking in colour but never ugly and in the burning of the Capitol and excommunication scenes the approach is effective. The costumes are good with more of a sense of time and place(apart from a few vague spots here and there in this regard), and the lighting is expressive and appropriate. The only reservation visually actually is the chalk-white make-up which is distracting and makes the performers look like ghosts. Like Berlin's, it's outstanding musically, with powerful and nuanced orchestral playing- varying from sending up a storm musically in the Overture to providing sensitive accompaniment in Rienzi's prayer- and expressive choral singing. Pinchas Steinberg's conducting is authoritative and sympathetic, the music brims with nuance, power and energy under him. Torsten Kerl was one of the high points of the Berlin production and gives the standout performance here as well, it's a difficult role and he provides heft and appealing tone vocally and his acting throughout is splendid and deeply felt. Marika Schonberg is a compassionate Irene, although it's this role that suffers the worst from the truncation, her tone mostly beautiful but shrill on occasions as well. The (very close) second best performance is from Daniela Sindram as Adriano, her voice is of much depth and beauty and aside from Kerl is the most involved of the principals and makes a noble effort in still making her character rounded. The DVD is great technically, with unobtrusive video-directing and excellent sound.
The staging here is much more tasteful than Berlin's and more faithful to Wagner's stage directions, no distortions of character here either. That is not to say that the staging is perfect though, because interaction between the performers(more in the secondary cast than the principals, who are very emotive) lacks in places- though the production does do nobly making the most of the story-, the bare stage makes entrances and exits hard to decipher so when you see somebody arriving or leaving the stage it has a drifting effect which was strange. And sadly the staging of the chorus is a disaster, while their singing is great the chorus are not involved at all throughout the production and are literally in permanent concert-performance mode. That the performance and score is very heavily truncated is a disadvantage, and this is more to do with the truncations hurting the story rather than musically. Though the omission of parts like the Battle Hymn with themes that pop up later on makes one wonder "huh, where did this theme come from?" if they are a first-time viewer and those already familiar will think it meaningless. The story doesn't feel as cohesive and its drama loses credibility(like in the opening of Act 4 with Adriano), and characters suffer too, Adriano's motivations are unclear here but the worst case was Irene, whose part is literally reduced to the operatic equivalent of a cameo. While the principals are spot-on the secondary cast don't register, for example Richard Wiegold and surprisingly Robert Bork sound under-powered(although Bork is closer in size than Wiegold), and they are completely static. And the news-reel shots and projections used during the Overture were out of place and were just pointless, very anachronistic and there was no obvious reason as to why they were there in the first place.
Overall, a watchable production and superior to the earlier Berlin performance but it is a long way from ideal, and no it is not just the truncations, and the definitive DVD performance of Rienzi is yet to be made. There is a production with Gerd Brenneiss and Jeannine Altmeyer that is far better than either production put together and inexplicably there's not a (official) DVD release of it. 6/10 Bethany Cox
It's a better performance visually than Berlin's, the sets are minimalistic and lacking in colour but never ugly and in the burning of the Capitol and excommunication scenes the approach is effective. The costumes are good with more of a sense of time and place(apart from a few vague spots here and there in this regard), and the lighting is expressive and appropriate. The only reservation visually actually is the chalk-white make-up which is distracting and makes the performers look like ghosts. Like Berlin's, it's outstanding musically, with powerful and nuanced orchestral playing- varying from sending up a storm musically in the Overture to providing sensitive accompaniment in Rienzi's prayer- and expressive choral singing. Pinchas Steinberg's conducting is authoritative and sympathetic, the music brims with nuance, power and energy under him. Torsten Kerl was one of the high points of the Berlin production and gives the standout performance here as well, it's a difficult role and he provides heft and appealing tone vocally and his acting throughout is splendid and deeply felt. Marika Schonberg is a compassionate Irene, although it's this role that suffers the worst from the truncation, her tone mostly beautiful but shrill on occasions as well. The (very close) second best performance is from Daniela Sindram as Adriano, her voice is of much depth and beauty and aside from Kerl is the most involved of the principals and makes a noble effort in still making her character rounded. The DVD is great technically, with unobtrusive video-directing and excellent sound.
The staging here is much more tasteful than Berlin's and more faithful to Wagner's stage directions, no distortions of character here either. That is not to say that the staging is perfect though, because interaction between the performers(more in the secondary cast than the principals, who are very emotive) lacks in places- though the production does do nobly making the most of the story-, the bare stage makes entrances and exits hard to decipher so when you see somebody arriving or leaving the stage it has a drifting effect which was strange. And sadly the staging of the chorus is a disaster, while their singing is great the chorus are not involved at all throughout the production and are literally in permanent concert-performance mode. That the performance and score is very heavily truncated is a disadvantage, and this is more to do with the truncations hurting the story rather than musically. Though the omission of parts like the Battle Hymn with themes that pop up later on makes one wonder "huh, where did this theme come from?" if they are a first-time viewer and those already familiar will think it meaningless. The story doesn't feel as cohesive and its drama loses credibility(like in the opening of Act 4 with Adriano), and characters suffer too, Adriano's motivations are unclear here but the worst case was Irene, whose part is literally reduced to the operatic equivalent of a cameo. While the principals are spot-on the secondary cast don't register, for example Richard Wiegold and surprisingly Robert Bork sound under-powered(although Bork is closer in size than Wiegold), and they are completely static. And the news-reel shots and projections used during the Overture were out of place and were just pointless, very anachronistic and there was no obvious reason as to why they were there in the first place.
Overall, a watchable production and superior to the earlier Berlin performance but it is a long way from ideal, and no it is not just the truncations, and the definitive DVD performance of Rienzi is yet to be made. There is a production with Gerd Brenneiss and Jeannine Altmeyer that is far better than either production put together and inexplicably there's not a (official) DVD release of it. 6/10 Bethany Cox
